Dear Mr Rudd,

Thank you for your request dated 02/03/2009. This falls to be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I have listed your questions below for reference.

Our service standards set out how quickly we aim to decide applications for further leave to remain and settlement.

For charged applications, we will:

decide 70% of postal applications within 20 working days;

decide 90% of postal applications within 70 working days;

decide 90% of applications made in person at a public enquiry office within 24 hours.

For non-charged applications, we will:

decide 25% of postal applications within 20 working days;

decide 30% of postal applications within 70 working days;

decide 90% of applications made in person at a public enquiry office within 24 hours.

*For charged postal applications 37.26% were decided within 20 working days and 77.6% were decided within 70 working days.

It would only be possible to identify the reason why it had not been possible to process a FLR(M) application within 14 weeks by examining the file. Therefore, to provide you with the information you have requested would require identifying and manually examining all FLR(M) applications that were considered after14 weeks. As part of the Home Office, the UK Border Agency is not obliged under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to comply with any information request where the estimated costs involved in supplying the information exceed the £600 cost limit. I regret that we cannot supply you with the information that you have asked for, as to comply with your request would exceed this cost limit. This limit applies to all central Government Departments and is based on work being carried out by one member of staff at a rate of £25 per hour, which equates to 3½ days work per request. The costs involved include locating and retrieving information you requested, and preparing our response to you. They do not include considering whether any information is exempt from disclosure, overheads such as heating or lighting, or disbursements such as photocopying or postage.

Your request would at present be too costly to answer because the information you have requested is not held centrally but is held on individual files. However, if you were to refine your request further so that it falls under the £600 cost limit, we will be pleased to consider it further. Although, on this occasion I am unable to suggest how you could refine your request.

Should you wish to refine your request, so that we can provide you with answers to your questions within the £600 cost limit, please write back to me at the above address.

I should also point out that if you were to break your original request down into a series of smaller applications, we might, depending on the circumstances of the case, decline to answer if the aggregated cost of complying would exceed £600.

You should also bear in mind that even if any new request were to fall below the £600 cost limit, some information which we hold on this matter which you have requested may fall to be withheld under the terms of a number of the substantive exemptions contained in Part II of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. These exemptions could also make it necessary for us to extend the period for responding beyond the usual 20 working day target if they involve having to consider the public interest balancing test.

Finally, are there plans to develop specific tracking system, which suggest how long an application may take?

This functionality is under consideration for inclusion in the design work of new systems.

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request.  Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of UKBA sending a substantive reply to your original request and should be addressed  to:

UK Border Agency
Central Freedom of Information Team
11th Floor
Lunar House, Short Corridor
40 Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY

During the independent review the department's handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Feakins,

Freedom of Information Team,

Resource Management Group